


goosebumps.

by that_one_urchin



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Mutual Pining, Prom, Slow Dancing, Smut, Soft Hope Mikaelson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:20:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23254582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_urchin/pseuds/that_one_urchin
Summary: The first thing Josie sees when she walks into class is Hope, holding a bouquet of red roses and a sign that says ‘let’s have a howling good time at prom’.OrWhen Hope asks Josie to prom, Josie thinks it’s a joke.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Milton "MG" Greasley/Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 27
Kudos: 536





	goosebumps.

**Author's Note:**

> Dark Josie is so hot and I will write something about her bUt I have a weird habit: when the show gives me angst, I write fluff, and when the show gives me fluff, I write angst. 
> 
> Right now the show is giving us angst so I’m writing fluff

The first thing Josie sees when she walks into class is Hope, holding a bouquet of red roses and a sign that says ‘let’s have a howling good time at prom’.

Josie rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms, assuming this is some sort of dream her subconscious has pulled out of her middle school fantasies, but as the blur disappears from her vision and she still sees Hope’s gleaming smile, all she can do is nervously sit down. She eyes the details of the sign once she’s next to Hope, inspecting the black paper and the intricate drawing of a moon that makes up the ‘o’ in howling. 

It’s a mix of grey and white (maybe even a little bit of light purple) paint, all of the details making it seem as if Josie is actually looking up at it in the sky. The sign obviously took time to make, which is part of why Josie is so confused when she glances up and Hope is still smiling at her. 

“We’re not dating.” Josie says cluelessly, trying to keep her voice quiet with her classmates around her. It’s no use, of course - the werewolves and vampires spin back around in their seat as soon as Josie’s answer hits their super-ears. 

“I know.” Hope rolls her eyes. She sets the sign down on their shared desk. “But you’re not going with anyone and neither am I, and it’s prom. We can’t just skip prom.” 

Instead of responding, Josie starts to get her things out of her backpack. She’s glad that the sign is down and partially out of sight now. Prom hadn’t even been on Josie’s radar, not with Penelope bailing a couple months ago without an explanation. She didn’t think it would be on Hope’s either, especially because of Hope’s usual antisocial behavior and her break-up with Landon. Josie had actually planned on spending a casual night in with Hope. 

Movies, ice cream, too many salty snacks, and no boys or girls to bring up anything romantic. 

In fact, the only one Josie knows who has seemed especially excited about prom is Lizzie, who has been planning her and MG’s outfits since junior year. 

“Did my sister brainwash you?” Josie asks.

“No.” Hope replies immediately, then shrinks under Josie’s stare. “Okay, maybe. But I do think it will be fun. We could do something normal for a night.” 

Josie falls silent again, thinking it over. She barely registers her teacher at the front of the room, rambling about defending against gargoyles. All she can pay attention to is the faint memory of planning prom with Penelope. Bickering over dresses and makeup, a lost plan that still tugs lightly on Josie’s heart. 

The only other thing Josie notices is Hope beside her. Hope is bouncing her leg like she’s filled with too much nervous energy. It’s almost as if Hope actually cares about Josie’s answer, which is strange because it’s Hope. The one and only tribrid. She could flip her hero hair and bat her eyelashes at anyone in this school and they’d fall to their knees for her.

Apparently, that includes Josie.

“Yes.” She says. 

Hope blinks dumbly at her. Josie would almost call it adorable, but she doesn’t because if she does that cracks open a whole other can of problems. 

“Yes?”

“Yes.” Josie repeats. “I’ll go to prom with you.” 

The excited noise that leaves Hope’s mouth confirms that Hope has definitely been spending too much time with Lizzie. It’s high-pitched, close to a squeal, all over something as simple as prom. Josie thinks that she sees Hope’s fist pump in the air once or twice, but if she does then she’s ignoring it. That’s too sweet of a gesture for Hope to make, brings Josie too close to eighth grade when she was ready to make Hope her whole world. 

“Dork.” Josie mutters under her breath, and tries to pretend that she doesn’t suddenly like this idea or Hope’s attitude about it.

Things happen so fast in Mystic Falls that it seems as if they have grown up in the blink of an eye. They went from barely talking to each other, with Josie always looking up at Hope on her pedestal, to them being on semi-equal footing. Enemies to friends to lovers without a breath in-between. 

Josie would be lying if she said that she could wash her lingering feelings for Hope away. Even when she was dating Penelope, Hope was always there. Not that she ever cheated, but she felt Hope in her mind the same way she knows there are insects crawling in the damp dirt under rocks. Hidden, but still there - never forgotten.

Which basically means Josie just made one of those possibly life altering decisions in a split second because Hope’s smile is cute. 

Josie glances over at Hope, trying to be secretive about it but not getting very far with that. Damn tribrid senses. Hope looks at her before Josie even gets a chance to come up with an excuse for her staring. She decides it doesn’t matter if she’s staring, because Hope is the one who made a whole sign for prom and if anything, Hope is the one who should feel at least a little embarrassed. 

Yeah, that’s right. 

Hope is the one being strange in this situation and Josie is just going along with her weirdness. That’s all. 

Josie knows her sister is approaching before she even approaches. Call it a twin thing or just a plain old witch thing, but she senses Lizzie’s energy from yards away. She’s walking in the hallway when she feels it and then half-walking, half-jogging, because she remembers that Hope took it upon herself to ask her to prom this morning in front of twenty other people (and Josie took it upon herself to say yes). As far as Josie knows, things have been smooth between Hope and Lizzie, but this is prom. She’s not so sure everything will stay the same.

“I heard you said yes.” Lizzie says, linking their arms together as soon as she reaches Josie. 

Her tone isn’t threatening (in fact, it’s rather light), but Josie is already coiled tightly like a spring and has a defense on her tongue. 

“I can say no, if you want.” Josie tells her twin, ignoring how the thought of backing out suddenly feels awful. Shit. She’s already gone ahead and gotten excited for this. “I’ll just go alone. Or not at all. If you want.”

Josie glances over at Lizzie, slightly surprised to see her frown. She had been a little afraid of Lizzie’s reaction. Sure, Josie has gotten more independent over the years, but her heart is still soft and can be molded every which way when it comes to making Lizzie truly upset. 

“Why would you say no? It was my idea. Well, Hope came up with the sign.” Lizzie says this casually, as an afterthought. As if it’s like ‘Hope made you a whole sign and went out of her way to ask you out, no biggie’. 

“Your idea?”

They take a turn and head up the stairs to their next class - Potions 4 Honors. 

“Yeah. You two are cute together, plus Hope is very pretty. I can’t wait to dress her.” Lizzie, again, shrugs as if this is no big deal. “MG keeps wanting to wear this baby blue suit to match my dress, but it’s literally the ugliest thing. I keep telling him he’s wearing black. He looks sexier that way.”

At that point Josie just nods and zones out. If she listens to Lizzie talk about how sexy MG is for another minute, she thinks her mind will explode on account of the weirdness of this day. 

A week passes. 

It’s the oddest week of Josie’s life. The entire time, she expected Hope to show up and say sike. It was all a joke and now they are going to retreat to their rooms to watch random movies all night. That never happens. In fact, Hope becomes weirdly attentive for the whole week. 

She’s there when Josie eats breakfast and there when Josie eats dinner. Between meals, Hope occasionally texts her about little things. Hope will ask her if she wants to go on a run during a free period, if she thinks Hope should wear heels to prom or not, and if winged eyeliner is ‘too much’. Stuff that wouldn’t really matter if it didn’t mean that Hope is actually planning to take her to prom and also putting in effort. 

(One of the texts is Hope asking her which dress Josie likes better, complete with a picture of two dresses hanging up in a dressing room at what Josie guesses is the mall. Josie ends up staring down at her phone for an embarrassingly long amount of time after that, because there’s a mirror in that dressing room and in that dressing room is a half-naked Hope Mikaelson.)

It all kind of makes Josie feel bad, as much as it makes her feel good. Josie knows that Hope probably hasn’t gotten a lot of normal nights and that this could actually mean a lot to her. She had played all of this off as a joke or not a big deal, and here Hope is doing the most. 

So, Josie goes last minute dress shopping with Lizzie, who scolds her the entire time for not going earlier. Lizzie is right, there are barely any dresses left in the mall that are suitable for prom. Much less ones within the budget their dad gave them. Then, they stop being idiots and remember they have literal magic and work around paying thousands of dollars for a purple dress that looks amazing on Josie. 

Anyways, the week goes by and when prom finally does roll around Josie almost can’t believe it.

Mostly because the day is so calm. It’s a Saturday and the school is nearly silent, the kids huddled in their rooms to go over their plans for the night. Even Lizzie stays in, because she assures Josie that she took care of everything there is to take care of days ago, so Josie stays in with her. Their phones don’t buzz once, except for when MG sends a text that confirms he’s wearing black and Lizzie smiles as if she didn’t expect anything else. 

It stands out in their year of hectic days. 

It’s kind of boring, actually. Josie finds herself missing Hope’s presence, both because Hope always brings along something interesting with her (usually a monster) and because Josie is attached and wants to smell Hope’s rose shampoo. 

She ends up breaking around three in the afternoon, four hours before prom starts. 

Josie tells Hope that she’s bored and gets the same response from Hope back, so Josie texts her again about how her and Lizzie are watching the Princess and the Frog on Netflix. Their short conversation dies after that, leaving Josie to squirm on her bed and wonder if Hope just got caught up in something dangerous on the other side of the school. 

Someone knocks on the door. 

Lizzie raises her head off of Josie’s shoulder but doesn’t pause the movie. “Distance makes the heart grow fonder, MG!”

Josie rolls her eyes. Lizzie looks as if she’s going to throw open the door and see her boyfriend anyways. 

“It’s not MG.” A familiar voice calls from the other side of the door. Hope’s. 

Lizzie makes a sound that seems to mean ‘of course she’s here’ and then leans back against the pillow they are sharing, giving Josie an expectant look. Josie sighs but swings her legs over the side of the bed and gets up. She straightens out her pajamas and her hair (all while Lizzie’s eyes burn into her back) before opening up the door. 

“Hey, Hope.” Josie says, her voice coming out softer than she had thought it would. 

“Hey.” Hope’s smile splits her face, makes her eyes crinkle around the corners and her cheeks resemble round, red apples. 

Josie’s hand tightens around the door more and more as she continues to look at Hope. Her face is so cute that Josie wants to reach out and touch it, feel the softness along the sides of it and the straight line of her jaw. And the sweater Hope is wearing - God, that sweater. Sometimes Josie forgets how small Hope is, then she sees Hope bundled in dark green and remembers how she had gotten that sweater freshman year and still hasn’t fully grown into it. 

Her gaze goes to Hope’s shoulder, where she has a long, black bag slung over it. It’s unmistakably something to hold a dress in. 

“I was wondering if I could just get ready here.” Hope explains, noticing where Josie is looking. “We’re all going together, so I thought it’d be easier. Is that okay?” 

Josie doesn’t bother to check with Lizzie. She just nods quickly and steps aside, possible consequences be damned. 

“Hey, hobbit.” Lizzie says immediately once she spots Hope.

Josie is about to scold her, but Hope rolls her eyes good-naturedly like this is an ongoing joke between them and steps further into the room. 

“Shaq.” Hope replies, laying her bag along Josie’s empty bed. 

They both burst into laughter while Josie stands there awkwardly, looking between Hope and Lizzie and wondering when all of this bonding happened. She really hasn’t been paying enough attention. 

“You two are weird.” Josie comments. Not knowing what to do, she decides to just get back on the bed with Lizzie. 

Lizzie pokes her stomach. “You love us.”

Us. 

As in, along with obviously loving Lizzie, Josie also loves Hope. 

Trying her hardest to ignore that implication, Josie shoves her sister to the side until there is enough room for three on the bed and remains silent. Thankfully, no one takes Lizzie’s words as heavily as Josie does and in a couple minutes the air is cleared. 

They finish the last of the movie together, with Josie being used as a pillow since she’s sandwiched between both of them. She complains a little, just to be annoying, but in reality she doesn’t really mind. This is one of her favorite movies and these are two of her favorite people, and if her arms get tired she can turn her head to the right, smell roses, and decide it’s all worth it.

“Time to get ready.” Lizzie announces, as soon as the credits roll.

“But we have hours.” Hope complains, turning to snuggle into Josie closer. She wraps her arm around Josie’s waist, hugging her tightly.

Lizzie gives them both an annoyed look. “No being cute with my sister to get out of getting ready. Did you shower and shave this morning?”

“Yes.” Hope sighs and finally rolls off the bed, leaving Josie feeling cold. “I got your text. Control freak.” 

Despite the bit of complaining, both Hope and Josie give in to Lizzie’s antics. They don’t want to be late, after all. Prom isn’t something you want to miss and besides, Lizzie would probably murder them on the spot if she saw them not get there on time. 

So, they let Lizzie boss them around.

It’s a little strange, because for a while there Josie’s childhood idea of prom had been something traditional with a boy. She imagined getting ready with Lizzie, chattering excitedly about how handsome whatever guys they’d gotten were. Hiding her dress from him, only giving him the small detail that she wouldn’t be wearing heels, being secretive about it as if it were a wedding - but this is different. 

Prom prep turns out to be Hope on the bed behind her, hours before it starts, working her fingers through Josie’s hair until it forms a braid. Her fingers are careful as they separate the dark strands, Hope’s hands warm along Josie’s scalp as she works. Josie finds herself leaning into the touch, nearly falling asleep between Hope’s legs. She only remembers to keep herself awake because Lizzie is painting her nails purple and needs her to hold her hands up. 

They all switch positions a couple times, so all of them can get their nails painted the color of their dresses and their hair done. Lizzie was right about them needing to start early, because after they’ve done a full nail and hair rotation, they all still need to put on makeup and their dresses. 

It all ends up being perfectly timed - no one is surprised, Lizzie planned every detail and even gave them room to occasionally stop and talk. It’s good, because Josie definitely slows down a couple times to admire Hope (Hope, leaning over the sink in the bathroom and inspecting her shiny lips in the mirror, the light and the makeup making her look like some type of goddess).

“I’m gonna go.” Hope says at the last minute, already ducking out into the hallway before anyone has a chance to stop her. 

Lizzie turns and looks at Josie expectantly again. Josie kind of likes that, it feels as if Lizzie is tossing Hope into her lap and telling Josie ‘here, deal with your girl’.

Josie goes out into the hall and sees Hope already halfway down it. She has to run to catch up with Hope, but since she hasn’t put on her nice shoes yet, it isn’t too much trouble. 

“What are you doing?” Josie asks.

“Oh.” Hope pauses. She raises her hand to the back of her neck and scratches it, looking more awkward than she should. “I wanted to wait at the bottom of the stairs for you. You know, so you can do your whole Cinderella thing that you always talk about.”

“I don’t talk about that.”

Hope bounces on her heels, suddenly shy. “You did in middle school.”

Josie’s body fills with warmth as her brain reminds her of the lost memory. She used to tell everyone in class about how she wanted to descend the stairs and have everyone look at her as if she was a beautiful princess. It’s a lost dream, but it still hits hard knowing that Hope listened and remembered all these years.

“I didn’t know you were like this.” Josie breathes, not thinking about her words at all. She wants to kiss her and kiss her and laugh, because who knew Hope was so romantic, and then kiss her again.

“Like what?”

Traditional, Josie wants to say. Amazing and sweet and several other adjectives that make Josie want to close the space between them, but saying those words makes her feel like she’s speaking too much of everything so she just shrugs.

“Nothing.” She shakes her head, dismissing it. “You’re great.”

It seems as if there’s thousands of stairs when they’re suddenly the only thing standing between Josie and Hope. 

Josie is standing at the top with Lizzie close behind her, the rest of the stairway empty except for Hope and MG (because apparently everyone else is less dramatic and didn’t want to walk down the stairs as if they were in a Disney movie). MG looks nice in his suit, but Josie can’t keep her eyes off of Hope. 

Hope’s dress is black and just tight enough to show off the shape of her body. The fabric runs down along her hips and hugs her chest, but at the same time makes her pale skin stand out. It’s as if Hope is glowing, like someone made her by cutting out the brightest pieces of the moon and gluing them together. She’s gorgeous. She’s stunning. She attracts stars with just her eyes and she-

“Josie, move.” Lizzie hisses, giving her a little shove and making Josie go down the first step. 

Josie suddenly remembers that she’s a human being that needs to make actual movement and starts walking down the stairs. Hope’s eyes are all over her, trailing down from Josie’s head to her toes like she’s never used her eyes for anything else. Josie has never concentrated more on not falling before. 

When she finally reaches the bottom of the stairs, Josie goes to hug Hope and is surprised when Hope presses a quick kiss to her cheek before wrapping her arms around Josie’s shoulders. They stay like that for a moment, partially because Josie doesn’t want to lift her head and see Lizzie and MG kissing, but mostly because she likes being stuck in the warmth of Hope’s body. 

Josie drops her head so it rests on the crook of Hope’s neck and shuts her eyes, letting the hug linger for far longer than it should. 

“Ready?” Hope asks.

“Ready.”

Prom isn’t as dramatic as Josie thought it would be. 

Movies tend to make big events like this seem as if they’re life and death, but really it’s just another fun night with her friends. Josie doesn’t take that lightly, of course, since fun nights with her friends rarely come, but she’s surprised to find herself loosening up within the first hour of the night. 

“Do you want to dance?” Hope asks, two glasses of punch later and into the tenth song of the night. 

Josie looks out at the crowd of teenagers and nods, spotting MG trying to get Lizzie to do the Hustle. “Sure.” 

They make their way out of their table in the corner, where they’d been chatting comfortably, and work towards the middle of the dance floor to meet with their friends. The pop song playing is something fast Josie doesn’t recognize, but it’s the exact type of thing that she would expect to play at a high school dance. It makes her smile, the normalcy of it all - prom and a pop song and her prom date.

“Fair warning.” Hope says, reaching out to grab Josie’s hand. “I can’t dance.” 

MG brightens beside them. “Ok, but everyone can do the-“ 

“We can not do the Hustle to a Justin Bieber song.” Lizzie grumbles, probably not sounding as annoyed by MG’s antics as she really wants to be. 

Josie looks at MG, catching his eye and getting a smirk in return, and then looks at Hope just to make sure she’s paying attention before falling into step with MG. There’s enough space for them to move around and do all the steps, including the spinning and clapping that sounds strange because it doesn’t fit the beat of the song - but they go on anyways. 

Maybe it’s because Lizzie’s slight frown breaks into a grin after the first minute of them dancing. Maybe it’s because Hope laughs so clearly and then starts hesitantly mimicking their movements, looking like a cute baby deer. Maybe it’s because Josie and MG are so far gone for these girls that they would do anything to see them smile. 

“Hey, everyone.” Their dad is suddenly on stage, tapping a microphone as the music fades away. “I hope you’re all having fun. Well, not too much fun… Uh, anyways, it’s time to announce prom king and queen.”

They all stop dancing to hear the announcement. Hope stands in front of Josie, so Josie goes ahead and takes the opportunity to curl her arms around Hope’s waist. She feels almost as if she’s boxing her in, protecting her from the crowd. It’s a stupid idea since Hope definitely doesn’t need protecting from anyone, but Josie likes thinking it as she tucks her chin onto Hope’s shoulder.

“I thought you couldn’t dance.” Josie whispers. She doesn’t really care who wins prom king and queen, but she could get used to the shiver that comes with Josie’s mouth close to Hope’s neck.

It makes Josie think that Hope could, just maybe, like her as more than a friend.

“I can’t.” Hope replies. Her hands come down to her stomach, where Josie’s arms are resting, and she presses Josie a bit closer to her. 

“Lies.” She says quietly. It feels as if the world has shrunk down to this little bit of space that Hope and Josie are occupying. Hope’s back is impossibly warm against Josie’s front and it feels so distractingly good that when Josie speaks again her voice is shaky. “You’re not even tired. Seriously, you’re a pro.”

“Tribrid stamina.” Hope whispers back in that teasing, playful tone that rarely ever comes out of her.

There’s no double meaning to it, but Josie can’t help but let her mind wander. She thinks about what it would be like to kiss Hope at the end of the night, to feel Hope’s hands run up under the fabric of her dress and all over her body. The thought makes Josie’s skin hot, makes goosebumps raise along her bare arms. She tries to step away from the searing heat of her thoughts and Hope’s body, but Hope just squeezes her closer as if she intends for Josie to burn.

Josie forces her eyes up to the stage, where a boy and a girl are getting their crowns. She thinks she hears Lizzie murmur something about monsters distracting her from campaigning for queen, but when Josie looks over Lizzie still looks unmistakably calm in MG’s arms. 

The prom king and queen start their dance without Lizzie ripping the crown off of that poor girl’s head (the way Lizzie probably would have done if this was sophomore year), and after a minute everyone slowly starts to join in on the dance.

Hope untangles herself from Josie’s arms - or more, she loosens Josie’s grip enough to spin around and get her fingers locked behind the nape of Josie’s neck. Josie flounders for a moment but then she connects the dots and puts her hands on Hope’s hips.

This is easy. Not just because they’re literally just standing close together and swaying, but because it’s Hope. Josie’s heart falls into it quickly and her mind comes tumbling after, all of her thoughts coming together so Hope consumes her brain and she can’t get rid of the image of Hope’s smile. 

It sears into her brain - Hope, only a few inches shorter than her, looking up at Josie with wide eyes and pink lips that have never looked more inviting. She imagines dipping down to kiss her, pictures herself running her tongue over Hope’s bottom lip and getting lost in the faint, fruity taste of punch and Hope.

It’s not the first time Josie has wanted to kiss Hope, and she doubts it will be the last. 

“Okay, we’re going to meet back here in an hour.” Lizzie instructs. Prom ended a few minutes ago and they’re already in town, hidden by the darkness and taking orders from Lizzie about the rest of the night. “MG and I are gonna get some drinks and you two are on food duty. Then we’re going back to a motel.” 

“A motel?” Josie asks. No one else looks surprised. She swears Lizzie never tells her any plans. 

“Yeah. Dad said we could spend the night. It’s better than being at the school with every other sex-crazed teen.” 

Josie blinks and Lizzie is practically gone, walking hand in hand with MG down the street. She would protest, but she doesn’t really want this night to end and now she gets to spend more alone time with Hope.

“They’re really something, aren’t they?” Hope continues looking at the couple for a moment, sounding amused. 

“Yeah.” Josie agrees, starting to walk down the sidewalk towards the nearest 7-Eleven. “Remember when Lizzie wouldn’t give him the time of day?” 

Hope laughs and nods, so the next couple minutes are spent reminiscing about MG and Lizzie’s former relationship. They talk about the time he covered her room with candy-filled balloons in middle school and go over how Lizzie had eventually fallen for him completely this year (though if you ask her she’ll shrug and claim that he’s ‘okay’). 

They get to 7-Eleven fairly quickly since Mystic Falls is small and everything is relatively close together. Hope grabs potato chips, Josie goes for those cheap, packaged desserts stuffed with chocolate. It only takes a couple minutes and then they’re standing outside of the store with forty minutes and nothing to do. 

They must look out of place, standing around holding plastic bags of junk food in their fancy prom dresses. 

“I think it’s kind of nice.” Hope says out of the blue.

“What’s kind of nice?”

Josie looks at her, feeling confused but noting the way Hope’s head is tilted back so her eyes face the sky. She assumes Hope is talking about the stars. 

“How two people can have crushes on each other at different times, think nothing will happen, and then just… ya know.” Hope turns to look at Josie then, sucks all the air out of Josie’s lungs with her eyes. “Fall in love.” 

They both stare for too long. Josie feels as if they aren’t close enough, even though she can feel the baby soft hairs on Hope’s forearms brushing her skin. 

After a moment, Josie clears her throat. “Yeah. It is nice.”

She tries not to think too hard on former crushes. Sometimes Josie will remember her childhood crush on Hope and her mind will wander to the edge of the cliff right above the abyss. Then, she’ll remember how Lizzie had came into their room a couple years ago and announced Hope had admitted to also having a crush on Josie at one point, and Josie’s mind will jump off that cliff. Her thoughts will fall into the abyss, her imagination stumbling into thoughts of what it would be like to fall in love. 

Hope grabs Josie’s hand all of a sudden, linking their fingers and dragging her further down the street. 

“Where are we going?” Josie asks, following after Hope despite the uncertainty. 

Hope ignores her. “How much time do we have left?”

“Thirty-five minutes or so.” She nearly trips with how quickly Hope is pulling her. “Why?”

“Perfect.”

“No.” Josie says, looking through the holes in the fence at the pool on the other side. It’s so dark out that Josie can only make out the glimmer of the moonlight on the surface. “Not perfect. We can’t go swimming. We have like a half hour and we still have to get back.” 

Josie tries not to look at Hope because she can feel the puppy eyes from a mile away. Lizzie would kill them if they showed up really late and she’d probably double-kill them if they showed up late and soaking wet. Besides, it’s probably going to be midnight soon and Josie doesn’t want to waste all of her energy here if they’re all going to hangout at the motel. 

“Just ten minutes.” Hope pleads, tugging at Josie’s arm until she turns to look at her.

Yep. Full puppy eyes. 

“Fine. Ten minutes.” Josie agrees. “How are we supposed to climb the fence in our dresses?”

Before Josie can even really get the question out, Hope comes up behind her and wraps her arms around Josie’s waist. Hope steadies herself and then they’re in the air without warning, jumping over the fence in the blink of an eye. 

Once Josie makes sure that she’s alive and the bag are still secure in her hands, she starts to kick off her shoes. She still thinks this is a bad idea, but to hell with it. She’s not going to chicken out. 

“The jumping thing feels weird.” Josie tells Hope, who just shrugs and smirks at her. 

“Tribrid stamina.” She replies, reaching back to unzip her dress.

The dark fabric slips off of Hope’s shoulders and down to the ground with a bit of shimmying. Josie has to force herself to look away as soon as she sees what Hope is wearing under. Josie used to think that black lingerie was kind of tacky, but now that she’s seen the milky-white swell of Hope’s breasts against lace, she thinks she’s changed her mind.

Josie removes her own dress, focusing on the water in front of them and trying not to worry about how she can’t see the bottom of the pool.

“I’ve always wanted to skinny dip.” Hope says casually. 

Josie nearly falls into the water. She turns around, gawking at Hope who is standing there with her thumbs hooked into her panties like she’s already made a decision on taking them off. 

Before Josie can even get out a sentence, Hope reaches out and pushes Josie into the water. Josie lands flat on her back and sinks down into the pool, getting swallowed by the cold water around her. It chills her to the bone and she feels as if she’s just gotten slapped with how quickly she fell in, but she recovers.

She holds her head under the water anyways, wishing she could stay in that blurry state of not breathing but not dying forever. She knows when she raises it out of the water Hope will be there, and so will Josie’s (probably) unrequited feelings. Maybe her heart will always ache like this for Hope. Maybe even when she dies, her soul will creep out of the grave to seek Hope out and see what she’s doing with her immortality. 

That’s all awfully dramatic and Josie eventually needs to breathe, so she swims back up. Hope is in the pool and smiling, but Josie pretends to be angry and pouts at her. 

“Jerk.” She says, splashing water at Hope.

Hope laughs and splashes her back. 

It’s childish, but they get into a water war. Josie is winning in the beginning, probably because she has done this a thousand times with Lizzie, but then Hope amps it up with her extra speed and strength. Josie pulls out the best defense in these types of wars - ducking under water and swimming away. 

She gets all the way to the edge of the pool without having to come up for air, but by then Hope has already reached her and is lifting her up out of the water.

“How did you do that?” Josie pants, trying to catch her breath as she feels the wind roll across her body. 

“Tribrid-“

“Tribrid stamina.” Josie finishes for her. “I know.”

Hope grins up at her and Josie feels her heart thud once she realizes the position they’re in. Josie is out of the pool, sitting on the very edge with Hope still swimming between her legs. She’s got her knees spread wide for Hope, her entire body exposed while Hope gets to stay hidden under the water. 

It almost feels as if she isn’t wearing anything at all, with the way Hope is looking at her. Feeling exposed like this makes Josie throb, makes her squirm and want to press her thighs together to find some release - but Hope is strong and easily holds them open, and if that isn’t the hottest thing then Josie doesn’t know what is. 

“You should have seen your face when I said I wanted to skinny dip.” Hope teases, dragging her fingers along Josie’s inner thigh as she smiles at the memory.

Josie tries to fight the blush creeping up her neck, but it’s impossible. “I knew you were just messing with me.”

“No you didn’t. You looked like a tomato.” Hope digs her short nail into Josie’s skin, scratching her just a little. Josie’s heart jumps at the mix of pleasure and pain. “You look like a tomato now.”

“Shut up.”

Hope laughs and Josie would laugh with her, but Hope leans her head on Josie’s thigh as if it’s the most casual thing in the world and Josie’s body tenses up. She can’t help it. Hope’s breath is warm and too close to her crotch, and when Josie shuts her eyes all she can imagine is Hope leaning forward an inch or so to put the wet heat of her mouth on Josie.

Josie stares up at the stars, trying to focus on anything else. “You’re mean to me.” 

“Aww, sorry.” Hope’s teasing voice is low, sexy in a way that’s completely unfair. “Did I make you horny, baby?”

Josie rushes to stand up and get away, because her cunt is starting to clench around nothing and she’s sure Hope will be able to smell her wetness standing out against the chlorine - and she’s so goddamn embarrassed and horny that she barely knows how to function without kissing Hope. 

“Uh. We’re- we’re gonna be late.” Josie’s voice is shaking and she thinks she may be shaking too, but she grabs her dress off the floor and starts stepping into it anyways. 

Thankfully, Hope doesn’t comment on how weird she’s acting and just gets out of the pool to start getting dressed. They don’t say much because now they kind of need to rush to get back to Lizzie and MG. It’s good for Josie. She isn’t sure that she could get through words at this point without saying something stupid, and she’s already embarrassed enough because she’s pretty sure Hope can smell arousal.

They end up getting there just on time and walking with MG and Lizzie to the motel. Josie’s emotions are all over the place, with being overly horny and tired and also downing three hard lemonades on the way there. MG and Lizzie don't seem to notice, but Hope keeps her eyes on Josie the whole night and drinks two bottles of lemonade of her own, maybe just to fill the silence. 

When they get there, Lizzie goes right up to the front desk and starts talking to the lady there while the rest of them wait behind her. 

“You okay?” MG asks, finally getting a good look at Josie. “Your heartbeat is doing this weird rhythm. Do you hear that, Hope?” 

Hope smirks and nods. “Yeah. I hear it.”

Josie blushes from her head to her toes, staring down at the floor and avoiding both of their eyes. She stays that way until Lizzie gets done talking to the front desk lady and comes back with keys. 

“Here.” Lizzie says and hands out keys. As in plural.

Two keys. Two rooms. Two couples.

Josie’s going to pass out.

Hope unlocks the door and pushes it open, letting them both step into the room. 

It’s just as Josie expected it to be. Small, with one bed and a bathroom. The walls are beige, the carpet is a bit scratchy and a dark green color that Josie kind of hates, but it feels as if she’s stepped into heaven with Hope in there. 

“That was thoughtful of them.” Josie says, trying to break up some of the weirdness she started tonight. “Now we don’t have to share a bed with the happy couple.” 

“I think the happy couple was thinking more along the lines of them not having to share a bed with us.” Hope jokes as Josie kicks the door shut with her foot.

Josie agrees, but she doesn’t want to think about her sister having sex and Hope isn’t helping by winking exaggeratedly at her. She rolls her eyes at Hope and picks up a pillow off the bed, smacking her lightly with it. 

“Don’t make me think about my sister having sex. It’s gross.” Josie hits Hope with the pillow again, not very hard because it’s hard to move in the dress and her underwear is still soaked and sticking to her body. 

Hope grabs the other pillow on the bed and hits Josie back with it. They stare at each other for a moment, both of them wondering if they’re really that immature, and then Josie raises the pillow high above her head and hits Hope in the arm with it.

Apparently, they are that childish. They end up getting into another fight, this one that involves Josie rolling across the bed multiple times to get away from Hope’s pillow and Hope chasing after her. They do this for a while, until Hope must decide that running around with prom dresses and wet underwear on underneath must be too uncomfortable. 

As always, Hope stops the fight by casually overpowering Josie, this time by gently pushing her back on the bed and sitting in her lap. She takes the pillow from out of Josie’s hands and throws it on the floor, leaving Josie pouting and defenseless. 

“You always win.” Josie complains, though she can’t say she feels too bad about having Hope on top of her. 

“It’s ‘cause I’m the best.” Hope jokes cockily, tilting her head to the side and grinning in the way she would if she had just defeated a monster.

“No you’re not.” Josie tries to wiggle her way out from under Hope, but she can barely move an inch. She pushes at Hope’s legs half-heartedly. “You’re just heavy.” 

Hope holds her pillow up above her head, looking vaguely threatening and bringing back that throbbing between Josie’s legs. God, Josie has some weird kinks.

“I’ll smother you.” Hope threatens. Josie shakes her head, caught up in the heady mix of lemonade, chlorine, and Hope’s never-ending heat.

“No, you won’t. You love me too much.”

There’s that word again - love. It stops Hope in her tracks this time, makes her set the pillow aside to really look at Josie. 

It seems as if Hope might say something, but Josie is done with talking. She’s done with waiting around wondering what’s going to happen and if Hope likes her or not - it’s been years of that. She makes a decision, and that decision may be stupid, but she sits up and leans in and suddenly she’s kissing Hope. 

For a moment, Josie is scared out of her mind and the kiss is just Josie’s trembling lips brushing against Hope’s while she wonders if this is the right decision, but then Hope slides her hands along Josie’s shoulders and pulls her in closer. 

Hope tastes like watered down lemons and under that this neutral, addictive taste that must be Hope. Josie holds her hips and tilts her head, letting Hope part her lips and slowly work her tongue into Josie’s mouth. It feels like it’s been years leading up to this moment and they’re both greedy for it - kissing deeply into each other’s mouths, trying to get more and more of it all. 

They only pull away after a moment to breathe, and even then Hope stays close so they can bump their foreheads together. They make weird eye contact, only seeing the black of their blown-out pupils because they’re so close, and Josie cracks a smile that makes Hope kiss her again.

“You can take it off if you want.” Hope tells her softly. It’s only then that Josie notices that her fingers are bunched up in Hope’s dress, pushing it up just a little. 

Josie nods borderline frantically, accidentally running her nose along Hope’s. “Okay, yeah. I’ll just…”

She trails off, starting to push up what seems like miles and miles of fabric until it’s bunched around Hope’s ribs. Hope helps her from there, pulling the rest of the dress up and off. She tosses it aside, but Josie is already focused on kissing along Hope’s stomach.

Hope chuckles breathily, tangling her fingers in Josie’s hair. “I didn’t know you were this eager.”

Josie ignores her even though Hope’s low voice is a huge turn-on. She’s too busy working her way up Hope’s body with her mouth, leaving little red marks everywhere she goes. Hope leads her up by her hair and then tugs Josie’s head back until they can make eye contact again. 

“Take your dress off.” Hope says.

Everything about this situation makes Josie wet. The warm weight of Hope on top of her, the slight sting that comes from Hope pulling her hair, the way Hope looks right now - a mess of makeup on her face, her hair damp and two shades darker than usual, making her blue eyes vibrant. She looks as if she just stepped out of one of Josie’s better wet dreams. 

“Yes ma’am.” Josie replies, not even thinking about it, just sliding out from under Hope and starting to unzip her dress. She looks over her shoulder at Hope as she does it, unsurprised to see Hope watching and waiting on the bed. “You know, you’re hot when you’re bossy.” 

“Am I now?” Hope questions, leaning back on the heels of her palms and looking Josie up and down unashamedly. 

That feeling of being exposed creeps up on Josie again, but this time she embraces it. She stands there, leaving her arms at her side so Hope can see all of her. Josie can feel Hope’s eyes on her almost as much as she could feel her fingers, they burn a hot trail across her body and don’t give Josie a chance to breathe. 

Josie is about to get back on the bed but she pauses, taking a moment to look at Hope. She hesitates for a second before reaching behind her back and starting to undo her bra. Josie doesn’t have super senses, but she can still hear Hope’s sharp intake of breath and see how wide her eyes get, hyper focused on Josie’s chest. 

The clip on her bra unhooks and Josie slips it off with a little bounce.

Hope’s lips part and her fingers wrinkle the sheets under as she stares. 

“Come here.” When she speaks, her voice is clear and even and sounds so much like an order that Josie’s knees grow weak.

As soon as she’s in arm’s reach, Hope grabs her by the hips and spins her around to press her to the bed. Hope is on top of her again in the blink of an eye, locking their fingers together and pressing their joined hands to the mattress. All Josie can do is get lost in it, the overwhelming sensation of Hope’s lips on her own and then Hope’s mouth running along her neck. 

Hope is relentless. She tortures the soft skin near Josie’s jaw with her tongue and teeth, nips at it until Josie can imagine that it looks red and angry. All Josie can do is squirm, whimpering and tilting her head back as Hope bites down. It sends fire down her spine, makes Josie’s hips roll up to get some kind of friction. Hope holds her down almost as if she weighs nothing, just continues leaving a wet trail lower and lower until she’s got Josie’s nipple in her mouth. 

The fact that Josie is being held down and forced to feel all of this at once makes her want to cum right then and there. 

“Hope, please.” Josie’s voice is nothing but a high-pitched whine that would make her flush with embarrassment if it weren’t for Hope raising her head to look at her as if that was the hottest sound in the world. 

“Please what?” Hope asks, as if she’s completely clueless.

Josie is too horny to glare. “Please touch me.”

Hope makes a little humming noise, like she’s barely considering it, and slides further down Josie’s body. She stops once she’s between Josie’s legs and spreads them apart, holding them open effortlessly with her thighs. 

The front of Josie’s panties are darkened by a wet spot, sticking to her so close that it’s getting uncomfortable. She almost tries to shrink away from Hope’s gaze as Hope looks her over, but they’ve already gotten this far and Josie really has no room to be self conscious. 

“Hope.” Josie pleads, trying to reach out to her but getting her hand batted away. “Come on. Please.”

“Put your hands down.” Hope says. It’s an order that Josie gladly takes, setting her hands down by her sides. 

Hope runs her fingers along Josie’s slit through the fabric and then presses the heel of her palm up along it, adding more pressure when she reaches Josie’s clit. Josie fucking whimpers, actually whimpers like she’s never been touched by anyone before. She can’t help it. She’s too over sensitive, too needy for a bit of Hope’s attention.

“Hope, please. Harder.” Josie digs her fingers into the sheets, trying to keep herself together as Hope teases her. 

Hope listens, pressing her palm down more so Josie can rut against it. She fucks herself on Hope’s hand, trying to get off but not being able to bring herself there. There’s too much fabric between them and it’s not a great angle. It brings Josie to the edge, but doesn’t let her go over it, and Hope knows that. 

Once Josie feels like crying in frustration, Hope finally pulls her hand away. She grips Josie’s underwear with both hands and rips it away, leaving Josie bare and at her mercy.

The air is cold where it hits her, but Josie is throbbing with heat and Hope radiates warmth, and it’s all such an overload that all Hope has to do to get Josie off is rub tight circles around Josie’s clit. Josie cums so fast that it’s a shock to both of them. Suddenly Josie is trembling through an orgasm and Hope is running her fingers through very slippery folds, and they’re both getting high on the energy coursing through them.

While Josie tries to catch her breath, Hope presses light kisses on any bit of skin she can reach. Hope kisses what Josie guesses is going to be a particularly bad hickey, because it stings even at a gentle touch, but Josie can’t be bothered to care. 

“You okay?” Hope asks, sounding genuinely caring but still keeping that same sexy rasp in her voice that Josie loves. “Was that too much? ‘Cause I didn’t really ask and I wanted to be sure and I wasn’t even sure if you were into me or not and-“

Josie shuts her up by kissing her. When they pull apart, Hope looks so dazed that Josie can’t help but smile up at her. 

“Trust me, I’m very into you.” Josie tells Hope, running her thumbs along Hope’s face, smoothing out any uncertainty. “Now, take your underwear off. I want to eat you out.”

Josie has never seen Hope move faster.

**Author's Note:**

> How are you all doing with corona? I’m self-quarantined and very bored but thankfully no one I know has it.


End file.
